study his words carefully, and be doers
of his word. Many trust in a flight of
feeling, and think that in order to be
accepted of God, they must have some
special emotion come upon them, or
they do not have the grace of Christ.
But this is not what we are to look for.
Jesus came that we might obey as well
as receive; but we must believe in him,
and receive, in order to obey. We are
to ask, Are his words cherished by us?
Are we doers of the word of Christ? This
is an important question. If we are fol-
lowing the light just as far as it shines
upon our pathway, if we are seeking to
do the will of our heavenly Father, just
so surely shall we be prepared for
greater light to come into the heart and
mind. Especially will this be the case
when we are prayerfully searching the
Scriptures. We have had the Spirit of
God here in this meeting; we would dis-
honor God if we did not appreciate this,
and praise his holy name that we have
felt the manifestation of his Spirit in
power.
Jesus said: "Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that believeth on me hath ever-
lasting life, I am that bread of life. . . .
I am the living bread which came down
from heaven: if any man eat of this
bread, he shall live forever: and the
bread that I will give is my flesh, which
I will give for the life of the world. . . .
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the
flesh of the Son of man, and drink his
blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
hath eternal life; and I will raise him up
at the last day. For my flesh is meat
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed."
When some of the disciples were of-
fended at these sayings of Christ, he
said: "It is the spirit that quickeneth;
the flesh profiteth nothing: the words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit,
and they are life." The word of Christ
is spirit and life, and the more knowl-
edge we have of his word, the more
vigorous will be our spiritual growth.
Many are singing beautiful songs in
the meetings, songs of what they will
do, and what they mean to do; but some
do not do these things; they do not
sing with the spirit and the understand-
ing also. So in the reading of the word
of God, some are not benefited, because
they do not take it into their very life,
68
they do not practice it. We listen to the
presentation of truth, it is all good; but
do we listen to it as we would to a
pleasant song, or receive it as the voice
of God to us, and obey its precepts?
Many go away after listening to the
most solemn messages of truth, and pur-
sue the same careless, unsanctified
course they did before, as though they
had not heard the appeal of God to
them. They go away and live to please
themselves, live to suit their own fancy,
in a way directly opposed to the way
and will of God. We should not seek to
follow our own way; we have had ,
enough of that; it amounts only to weak-
ness. We need to have the Holy Spirit
of God with us moment by moment. And
where are we to find our soul consola-
tion? In a happy flight of feeling?-0
no; we are by faith to partake of the
sincere milk of the word, that we may
grow thereby, becoming partakers of
the divine nature, and escape the cor-
ruption that is in the world through lust.
I want to know more and more of
God's word and of his works. I do not
want to build myself up in myself; for
I am nothing. What I desire is to know
the ways of the Lord. I do not wish to
be so particular as to how my house is
furnished; spending unnecessary time
and money, so that everything may be
just to my taste in this or that arrange-
ment, and neglect the all-important
question, Is it well with my soul? What
is the order of my soul? Is the soul
temple pure? Is the defilement of sin
in my heart? Have I felt the necessity
of cleansing my heart from all impurity?
It is of the greatest importance to un-
derstand and practice the truth; for this
sanctifies the soul. Our greatest anxiety
should be to stand perfect before the
Lord, clothed in the spotless garments
of Christ's righteousness.
Souls are perishing for the bread of
life, and every one of us should be en-
gaged in earnest work for the Master.
Jesus came into the world to be our
example, and we should study and imi-
tate his life. Moments are golden, and
we should constantly guard ourselves,
lest we make a world of an atom, and
an atom of a world. We should guard
ourselves, lest we fail to magnify the
things of eternal interest, and fail to ap-
preciate the blessings of heaven. Why
is it that the truth as it is in Jesus is